Seoul seeking to co-host 2032 Olympics with Pyongyang

Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon speaks during a year-end party for the city government-run sports teams in Seoul, Monday. / Yonhap

By Kang Seung-woo

Seoul City is seeking to co-host the 2032 Summer Olympics with Pyongyang, the city government said, Tuesday.

It said the cost the South Korean capital would have to shoulder for the quadrennial sporting event is estimated to be 3.9 trillion won ($3.5 billion).

According to the Seoul Metropolitan Government, it submitted a budget bill recently to the city council that will be put to a vote Thursday. The local government has already lodged a formal application with the Korean Sport and Olympic Committee for its bid to co-host the event.

The budget estimate includes the cost for hosting 33 events during the 15-day event in the capitals of the two Koreas and other cities across the Korean Peninsula in July or August.

However, the calculation excludes costs related to social overhead capital (SOC) spending such as road and railway construction, raising speculation that the cost is likely to be much higher.

“The estimate was made by multiple private agencies that did the same job for past international sporting events held in Korea,” a Seoul City official said.

The city government believes it will be able to save costs for social infrastructure, telecommunications and logistics by taking advantage of existing facilities.

PyeongChang, a mountainous county in the eastern part of the country, hosted the Winter Olympics in February after investing 14 trillion won, 12 trillion won of which was spent on building infrastructure such as train tracks and arenas.

Seoul also plans to host opening and closing ceremonies simultaneously in Seoul and Pyongyang at the same time by utilizing information and communications technology.

The joint hosting plan came from the inter-Korean summit between President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on Sept. 19, where they agreed to boost bilateral exchanges.

Seoul was the host of the 1988 Summer Games.